How the war in Ukraine gilded the Wagner boss

The head of Russia’s private army Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has repeatedly publicly fired at the Russian government in recent months. In the meantime, he earns a lot from contracts he has signed with the Ministry of Defense.

Research by the independent media portal Mozhem Obyasnit shows how the war in Ukraine has made Prigozhin an (even) richer man. The journalists had compared the financial documents of several Prigozhin companies and found that Prigozhin pocketed a record amount of 4.7 billion rubles (about 51 million francs) from the Ministry of Defense in 2022 alone. That is significantly more than in previous years.

One of his companies had made several hundred million rubles just by feeding the soldiers – although cockroaches and dirt could be discovered in the food during the checks. But even that didn’t hurt the business of “Putin’s cook,” the journalists said. An accompanying contract runs until April 1, 2025.

In addition to these culinary orders, Prigozhin’s companies also earned a lot of money building barracks.

And that’s not all: in addition to these orders, which are directly related to the war in Ukraine, Prigozhin’s companies are said to have received other high-value orders from the Kremlin.

Prigozhin initially did not comment on the report.

(yam/sda/dpa)